Octava Dies. Editorial of P. Federico Lombardi: Christians hunted

(October 25, 2008) The situation of Christians in Iraq, along with that of other regions in India is a very serious case of emergency, which draws much attention and solidarity of the whole Church, said Fr Federico Lombardi, Spokes Person of the Holy See and director, Vatican Radio. He was speaking of the Christian community being persecuted in Iraq and India in his programme Octava Dies. He said that it is obviously it's the Iraqi people and not just the Christian community to suffer the consequences of decades of oppressive regime, a war and political disorder that followed, and now it is the ancient Christian communities in the country are under systematic and intentional pressure, and a series of violence and threats. The case of Mosul in recent weeks has become difficult. The documentation cited by humanitarian institutions and independent news agencies shows that the action of threat from Islamic extremist groups is the way to conduct street, house to house, with the spread of messages written delirious, like this: "You must leave your home and from the area in 24 hours, otherwise you will be rightly punished and you will be killed as our Islamic religion has commanded to do with those like you venerate the cross.” He added that it is important that all people of peace, even in the Muslim world, would be opposed with force and clarity to this horrific violence against fundamental human rights. We hope that the initiatives for dialogue with the Muslim world, opened in the wake of John Paul II and continued by Benedict XVI, contribute more to resolve the problem.